Presentation to NEWBio Teachers - Penn State Center for Science and the Schools
The purpose of NEWBio is to help train high school science teachers from around Pennsylvania on new initiatives in biology. The program is a week long workshop where teachers are exposed to the many areas of biology in a variety of ways. The week is spent listening to talks led by professors and groups, exploring the campus, and ultimately making new lesson plans for the school year. The iGEM team is a great asset to this program, as we can provide the teachers with information in a way that students would enjoy and understand. This is also a great experience in learning how to better discuss our iGEM projects and present to groups of people who may know little about the subject.
Here we were able to show these teachers ways that they can explain synthetic biology to their students. These are easily reproducible activities and are fun, too!
Engineering a Metabolic Pathway
In this simulation, colored beads were poured through each set of clear tubes. The beads represented chemicals or molecules entering a pathway which would alter them. The tubes represented the pathways which consisted of different genes being expressed at different levels. The first scenario represents a properly engineered pathway where the output of both genes is similar. This model allowed the beads to flow through the tubes with a constant pace. Our second scenario represented what can happen when a gene in the pathway is over-expressed. Here, the first gene was expressing at almost double what the second gene could take in. This caused the beads to build-up in the first tube while only allowing a small amount through the rest of the pathway. The third scenario shows a missing gene or a gene knockout situation. This pertains to the Biodexification project in how we are identifying the necessary genes for the HMF pathway to function in E. coli. When beads were poured through, the bottom tube did not receive any as they were not "metabolized" and in the correct form due to the missing gene.
Assembling a Plasmid Activity
This activity explained individual parts needed to make a functional plasmid and how they are used in the processes of transcription and translation. The group was given an handout of definitions of each part and, with our help, were able to put each part where it belongs.
"
